Page 582 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020
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INTRODUCTION



               Fraud in general poses a tremendous

               threat to organizations of all types
               and sizes, in all parts of the world.













               Among the various kinds of fraud that organizations
               might be faced with, occupational fraud is likely the   The goal of the Report to the Nations
               largest and most prevalent threat. Occupational     is to compile detailed information
               fraud —fraud committed against the organization by   about occupational fraud cases in
                    1
               its own officers, directors, or employees—constitutes   five critical areas:
               an attack against the organization from within, by the
               very people who were entrusted to protect its assets   The methods by which occupational
               and resources. Since we began tracking data on         fraud is committed
               occupational fraud cases in 1996, we have reviewed
               thousands of cases in which insiders collectively      The means by which occupational frauds
               stole billions of dollars from their employers, and    are detected
               those cases were merely a drop in the bucket. There
               are millions of business and government organiza-      The characteristics of the organizations
               tions operating throughout the world and every one     that are victimized by occupational fraud
               of them, in some way, is vulnerable or potentially
               vulnerable to fraud committed by their employees.      The characteristics of the people who
               Most of those employees will never steal or abuse      commit occupational fraud
               the trust that has been placed in them, but the ones   The results of the cases after the frauds
               who do can cause enormous damage. It is because        have been detected and the perpetrators
               of this risk that we continue to study these frauds    identified
               and publish the Report to the Nations.

               This study contains an analysis of 2,690 cases of   derstand occupational fraud and the impact it has on
               occupational fraud that were investigated between   organizations.
               January 2016 and October 2017. The data present-
               ed herein is based on information provided by the   The data we have gathered provides a broad and
               Certified Fraud Examiners who investigated those   deeply representative picture of occupational fraud’s
               cases. Their firsthand experience with these frauds   impact. The cases in this study include frauds com-
               provides an invaluable resource for helping us un-  mitted against organizations in 23 major industry
                                                               categories. Victim organizations range from small local
               1  Occupational fraud is defined as the use of one’s occupation for per-  businesses to multinational corporations with thou-
               sonal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the
               employing organization’s resources or assets.   sands of employees. These frauds were committed by





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